My Hero Monday is an original feature (and now a link-up!) from the feminist blog A Girl’s Voice. In the words of its creator, Chloe, “It celebrates female heroes in our society, and promotes learning about new heroes.” My Hero Monday posts feature women both real and fictional, living and deceased.

The full link-up schedule can be found at the end of this post – and if you’d like to join next month (I strongly encourage that you do so), you can find the rules and other information here.

This month, MHM has a theme: Bloggers! Chloe had this to say about the theme: “Choose a blogger who is your hero/inspiration/et cetera. Maybe they inspired you to create your blog, or they post really cool stuff, or help you, or just comment all the time and are a really good friend.”

This is also one of the few times when participants could choose to write about people of any gender, not just women. So that was cool!

I think Miriam started blogging in 2009, but she had a different URL back then. She’s since switched URLs and now self-hosts her site, too, but she’s been blogging in one way or another for about five years.

I think.

Correct me if I’m wrong!

Blog content:

She writes about many topics, including but definitely not limited to books, writing, LGBTQ+ issues, feminism, school, TV shows, poetry, music, current events, and more.

What makes them your hero?

I guess I see a lot of similarities between the two of us, and she’s the kind of person I’d like to emulate. She can joke around and then talk about something really serious. She has an EXCELLENT way with words, and she’s published four books already. She’s really smart. Et cetera.

Actually, I think one of the things I admire most about Miriam Joy is her passion for… well, things that most people would consider weird. Things like Celtic and Viking history/literature/language. (She just started studying Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at the University of Cambridge, in fact; go check out her vlogs about that experience!)

As I just said, most people would think that’s weird. Honestly, I think it’s weird. But you know what? I also think her love of those subjects is really cool. We shouldn’t be afraid to be incredibly passionate about something we like (even if it’s unusual/obscure/et cetera), and other people’s opinions of our interests shouldn’t matter – and it seems like Miriam understands that perfectly.

So, there you have it. I suppose I gravitate towards the highly individualistic people in any crowd, the ones who do their own (enthusiastically geeky) thing and don’t really care about what others think because VIKINGS MAKE THEM HAPPY.

P.S. Before I move on to the section about quotes… there’s something else I’d like to show you. Miriam vlogs in addition to writing and I LOVE HER VIDEOS. Here are just a few videos that will tell you a little more about Miriam!

This is from early 2013:

And this is from the beginning of this year:

And finally, this is from just a few months ago:

Notable Quotes:

“You know my thoughts. Go be a water buffalo, Engie. Be pink or blue. And don’t let anyone tell you that you don’t need a hairbrush because you don’t have any hair.”

“The overwhelming theme in queer narratives and something I’ve heard from many of my LGBTQ friends is that they ‘always knew,’ and it only took them this long to come out because they needed to work up the courage. Others had a realisation at about the age of twelve, when they hit puberty. But I didn’t. I legitimately had no idea until I was almost seventeen, and then it just kind of hit me: ‘Man, I like girls.'”

“I believe in writing books about friendship and care that doesn’t turn into romantic love. I believe in sending the message that platonic love is just as important. Maybe I’m just a killjoy who hates romance, but I’m bored to tears of books that want me to care about seemingly pointless heteronormative romantic subplots for no reason whatsoever. By all means, have meaningful relationships between characters, but either make it relevant, interesting, and unusual; or relegate it so far to the background that it doesn’t interfere. Please.”

“I’ve reached a point where I start reading a book and I realise that it’s centred on a heterosexual love triangle and I stop reading. Because I’m bored. I’ve come across that story a hundred times and I know how it pans out every single time and yet nobody has ever given me a queer female protagonist. Not one person has bothered to make people like me anything other than a background character in somebody else’s story.”

“Fellow writers, know this: you will never get to experience all of the things your characters experience. There is nothing I find harder in writing than looking through the eyes of someone completely different to me.”

Well, I really have nothing more to say in this post, other than that I hope it was interesting enough to make you take a look at Miriam’s blog! She’s a quite interesting, talented, nice person and I’m very glad to have “met” her!

15 Responses to My Hero Monday: Miriam Joy

So is this like a blog-chain?? Like the TCWT one?! BECAUSE I WANT IN NEXT MONTH! Such a great topic idea too! :)) AND I KNOW MIRIAM. Well, kind of. 😉 I’ve only been following her blog this year, but she is just downright hilarious and I love how she blogs about writing/books/nerd things and life. But I have no idea how she manages to be so insanely smart plus dance and play all these instruments and study and vlog. >.> She controls time, I’m sure of it.

Yeah, it is! And I’d love to see your MHM posts! 🙂 I’ll probably promote the chain on FB later this month (closer to sign-up time) if I remember, because it’s a really cool link-up and it’s a shame that only two people (not counting its creator xD) signed up this time.

I know, right? She’s very talented and does LOADS OF THINGS and *whispers* I think she controls time too.

I agree, I like meeting people who are passionate about something even/especially if it’s something strange. Nice quotes! I love reading about platonic love too, but it’s rarely done and when it is it often turns into romance. Thanks for introducing us to your friend. 🙂

I love meeting people who are passionate about odd things. 🙂 Life is too short to worry about what others think, so go forth and be yourself, as eccentric as that self may be!

If you want some really good stories about platonic friendship, I recommend the Malice/Havoc duology by Chris Wooding. 🙂 I reviewed it this spring, actually, if you wanted to look around for that post. They’re middle-grade books, but quite well written and there aren’t any unnecessary/contrived/boring romantic subplots! 🙂

I’m insanely flattered. Also amused by which posts and which parts of those posts you chose to quote. If I were choosing quotes to sum me up, I’m not sure those would necessarily be the ones I choose — except the water buffalo one. Definitely the water buffalo one.